IAMAI’s Voice for Bharat to unlock the potential of voice and audio

Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI) and Chingari Audio is all set to present ‘Voice for Bharat 2022’. The event, which will take place on May 17 at Sahara Star Mumbai in physical format along with a virtual session, is aimed at nurturing and evangelizing the voice-based digital ecosystem in India.

The advent of Voice in the digital sphere is fast gaining traction, given it has several advantages. The COVID-19 pandemic acted as a catalyst for the adoption of voice technology. Reportedly almost 40 percent of the U.S. population started using smart speakers monthly in 2020. Voice technology adoption grew in 2020 due to its contactless appeal and continues to grow for the sheer convenience it offers to users.

In the Indian context, voice has the potential of bridging the digital divide. Estimates suggest that only 43% of the total Indian population uses the Internet. Difficulty to understand the Internet and language barriers are some key impediments for digital adoption. Emerging technologies like Conversational AI, Natural Language Understanding, Text-to-Speech, etc., are potent tools to break the digital divide for businesses and platforms.

Voice for Bharat will be composed of insightful sessions by industry veterans through different formats such as fireside chats, industry panel discussions along with keynote addresses by both global and Indian stalwarts. Voice for Bharat provides a unique opportunity to get up close and personal with more than 50 maestros and experts from the voice tech industry. It will be a meeting place to discuss India’s transition from a video-first to a voice-first nation.  

After Text based user interaction and Graphical or icon based interactive technologies, the advent of Voice based interaction has unlocked new potentials for leveraging digital technologies. Through this forum, Gupshup & Knowlarity aim to share their understanding of how Voice, which is the primary mode of human communication, is being adopted across industries for human-to-machine interaction.

Chingari app co-founder-CEO Sumit Ghosh says: “With the understanding and evaluation that India is one of the biggest market for voice-based technology that  will further grow and majorly will be used by brands to enhance the customer engagement, Chingari powered by $GARI is also innovating in that space. We will be soon announcing the launch of our upcoming feature that will give a voice to our 150M+ user base across India, at the Internet & Mobile Association of India (IAMAI) Voice of Bharat event in the presence of industry experts from various sectors.”

“With the evolution of newer forms of communication , the question of which is the most impactful and cost effective mode for businesses at large remains. Through this forum, Gupshup & Knowlarity aim to share their understanding of how the various modes ,especially Voice which is still the primary mode, is being adopted across industries in various shapes and forms,” says Jaideep Kumar, CSO , Knowlarity,  (a Gupshup company).

The inaugural Voice for Bharat 2022 will comprise two parallel tracks. The physical track, at Sahara Star, Mumbai, covers issues like customer engagement with voice based applications, Conversational AI, and the rise of audio content in the form of podcasts and other mass consumed contents.

The virtual session captures both national and international speakers on various topics such as the new vistas of audio adtech, the global context of voice based digital applications and how Indian brands are leveraging voice based tools for their business promotions.